How often do you change your guitar strings?

[Davey]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

when one breaks or they start losing their tone.. they never went black on me and i do sweat a lot.. especially in summer. i use d'addario 9-42's and usually that GHS wax thingy .. but i lost it somewhere

thinking of trying out the earnie ball hybrid's but i cant find em anywhere

 

[some_dude]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

When I actually do finish with those, I will seriously think about some Elixir Nanoweb strings (anything advertised as sounding new even after excessive use, wins in my book ). Besides, I know they'll last and I like the feel of Elixirs.

Only buy one or two sets of those when you first try them. Some friends of mine did, and they said the nanoweb stuff flakes off all over your guitar and hands. I haven't tried them myself yet. I use Ernie Ball Beefy Slinky (.011 - .054) on one, and Dean Markley DT (.013 - .056) on the other (both Strats).

 

[popper]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

Instead of putting on new strings, I "boil and bake" my strings everytime before a gig. I do this with the E,A,D strings. Really brightens the tone, sound like brand new strings again. I boil mine for about 15-20 minutes, place strings on a pizza pan and immediately place strings inside a pre-heated oven of 350 degrees for 5 minutes-this helps dry the water off the strings quickly to prevent rust forming. I can do this about 5-6 times before the strings start to become "brittle".

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

14 days in between is my average, when playing alot on one guitar one week.
But that is mostly when I play alot....

 

[Dooogz]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

once a month, should rly do it every 3 weeks!

 

[TheProphet]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

Either I wait for ages ... or in this case a week and a half.

When playing with drummers ... for some reason I beat the crap out of my strings

 

[Nightburst]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

Strings are expensive so I don't change 'em as ofsten as I'd like. But every 2 months I check my guitar setup and readjust things if necissary and since I'm at it I'll change strings too. By that time the strings are long past dead and very dirty.

 

[stratsandaks]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

Once a year whether they need it or not.

 

[Byakhee00]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

On my basses, i've got Elixers... I have not changed them since i bought the basses and the strings. my BC Rich has some that have been on for what's getting very close to two years, and they sound like just got broken in new strings... now mind you, the elixer coating on the strings is coming off, and they have a "fuzzy" look to them, but they still sound fine. So, for me it's "every two years, or if a string breaks"

The way i look at it, the Elixer bass strings cost me around 50 bucks to buy, when i'm going through normal bass strings like 20 dollar GHSs, i change them out every other month or so. 50 bucks for 2 years vs. 240 bucks for GHS strings over the same 2 years. If you're a starving musician like me, you'll do anything to save a few bucks. besides, the elixers sound better.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

What!!!!! You mean you can change strings on these things? I jusy always buy another guitar when I break a string or when they start going dead.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

LOL - you all crack me up. I change strings when I break one (which is almost never)...otherwise they stay. Strangly, I end up wasting strings more by switching pickups and tuners, pickguards, saddles, ect.

 

[Norman_T]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

What!!!!! You mean you can change strings on these things? I jusy always buy another guitar when I break a string or when they start going dead.

Cheapskate!!

 

[HolyDirt]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

wow, a lot of you guys spend MASS amounts of money of strings!!! i change mine every 2-3 months, and thats when they JUST being to start sounding bad

 

[JOLLY]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

Cheapskate!!

:11:You've figured me out:smack:

 

[Pandemonium]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

As soon as the intonation sounds a little off.

 

[Zeppelinfan8790]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

I change strings right before a gig. Haven't had a gig since Halloween. So now I only change strings when I break one. And when I change pickups I use the same strings. I'm too cheap to buy alot so I buy 12 packs at a time and they usually last a long time.

Chris

 

[BluesNRock87]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

i use DR. pure blues .010 for electric and the top martin (msp, the red and black box) .012 for acoustic (wound g)

i change whenever i bust a string, or every 2 months, whichever comes first. also if i have a gig (ive had 1 so far thisn year, 4 all last year) i will change the strings IF they HAVENT been changed in 2 weeks. that way the have tone and durability...

 

[mmguz]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

3 or 4 months

 

[texasguitarslinger]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

I change them whenever I start to see the A chord shadow at the 2nd fret on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th strings.

 

[Bludave]

Re: How often do you change your guitar strings?

I have a lot of guitars, so I really can't say exactly. What I do is keep a little pad in the case with each guitar listing the date I last changed strings, setup etc.. But when I gig I change the strings 2 days before. I also use Graphtech saddles on most of my guitars, so I never break strings. I use a slightly heavier string than normal (D'addario 11's) so I get good sound over a longer period of time. Bottom line I think you should be able to get 48 hours of playing time before they need to be changed. Some people sweat a lot and that can kill the strings real fast.